|
Date: |
|
Description: | Portable sundial of simple ring-dial type, complete with slider. The main ring is 38 mm in diameter and 12 mm wide, and has a glossy dark brown patina. On the outside it is decorated with four engraved longitudinal lines, with a groove between the central pair. This groove contains a separate slider (now fractured) with a matt olive green patina. The slider is made up of a narrow penannular ring with the ends held by a square loop. Part of the outside is marked with a calendrical scale, with the initials of the months January to June between one outer pair of lines and those of the months July to December between the other outer pair; the initials are set transversely and all use their respective inner line as a baseline. Between the inner line and the central groove are short transverse lines dividing each month into three. For the length of the calendrical scale, the central groove pierces the main ring to become a slot. The inside of the ring has three engraved longitudinal lines dividing the ring into two fields. Part of each field is engraved with the numbers of the hours set longitudinally. One is engraved with the numbers 1 to 8, with 1 at the bottom and 8 at the top. The other field has the numbers 4 to 11, with 4 at the top and 11 at the bottom. The 10 is mis-engraved as 01. Below the 1 and the 11 is the number 12, with the 1 in one field and the 2 in the other. This hour scale is opposite the calendrical scale; there are two small circular holes in the ring above the hour scale and close to the June/July end of the calendrical scale. These holes would have held a suspension loop. To use the sundial, the slider was moved until the square loop was opposite the correct time of the year. The ring would have blocked the slot, only allowing light through the square loop. The sundial was then held up vertically by the suspension loop and swivelled until a ray of the sun shone through the hole. A spot of light on the hour scale allows the user to read off the time. It does not show whether the time was a.m. or p.m.; presumably the user was expected to work this out himself. These ring-dials are rarely found with the slider surviving.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
SUNDIAL
Portable sundial of simple ring-dial…
-
SUNDIAL
Portable sundial of simple ring-dial…
-
SUNDIAL
An incomplete cast copper alloy…
-
-
-
-
Sun dial
Small traveller's sun dial; brass,…
-
Sundial
Cast cu-alloy portable or 'pocket'…
-
SUNDIAL
Cast cu-alloy portable or 'pocket'…
-
|